Lots of great pics at the link!
In 1917 the U.S. Navy built a full-size battleship in Union Square, New York. It would stay there for the next three years.
Intended as a recruitment and training center, the ship was commissioned as a normal seagoing ship, under the command of Acting Captain C. F. Pierce, and manned by trainee sailors from Newport Training Station. Internally the ship had a wireless station, full officer's quarters, doctor's quarters and examination rooms to assess the health of potential candidates.
Constructed from wood, the USS Recruit carried two cage masts, a conning tower and a dummy funnel, or smokestack. It had six wooden replicas of 14-inch (360 mm) guns housed in three twin turrets, 10 wooden five-inch (130 mm) anti-torpedo boat guns and two replica one-pound saluting guns, matching the configuration of battleships of the time.
According to the August 1917 edition of Popular Science, the Recruit followed the normal navy routine. Sailors rose at 6 a.m., scrubbed the decks, did their laundry, and attended instructional classes. They then stood guard over the ship and were available to answer questions from visitors. By night, all the ship's lights were turned on, including a series of searchlights.
The ship hosted a variety of social events and receptions, including a christening, patriotic speeches and visits by various dignitaries, a group of Native Americans and the woman's motor corps.
As a recruiting tool the ship was very successful, helping to recruit 25,000 men into the U.S. Navy.
The First World War ended in 1918, and by 1920 the Recruit was no longer needed in Union Square. It was properly decommissioned and dismantled, with the intention of relocating it to Coney Island's Luna Park. This did not happen and the fate of the Recruit is unknown. And don't forget to check out the links at the bottom of the article!
#3
After your breakfast is settled and without coffee in your mouth, see a similar photographic retrospective on the early days of the Hildabeest, who started out as a Young Republican. So it says.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/09/2015 7:35
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I'd forgotten about the really striped slacks that used to be worn, Bobby.
Perhaps on purpose.
Brought back weirdly stylish memories
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07/09/2015 13:55
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[Daily Caller] The Champ Regime unveiled new rules Wednesday to rid the country of racially segregated neighborhoods by directing cities and towns to set goals for reducing segregation, and then regularly report their progress to the feds. A page out of the Robert and Grace Mugabe handbook. Land and asset redistribution by another name.
Communities nationwide will be given a series of questions designed to help them figure out whether racial bias is causing segregated neighborhoods, racial or ethnically concentrated areas of poverty, unequal access to opportunity or disproportionate housing needs in their jurisdiction. They will be required to set goals related to that data and publicly report on their progress every three to five years. ....and face possible loss of federal funding for non-compliance. The Department of Housing and Urban Development rule is intended to prod communities to meet fair housing standards established in the Fair Housing Act of 1986, by making previously unavailable or unreliable data accessible to the public, which could then use the data as an impetus for change. Impetus for change via lawfare.
The Fair Housing Act requires the government to not only eliminate racial discrimination in housing, but also to encourage racially integrated neighborhoods. ....and put an end to historically conservative republican voter enclaves, white privilege, etc. Absolutely no mention made of the disproportionately high minority demographic in urban areas. No adjustments necessary here, these voting blocks are where we want them.
#9
Yeah, and federal funding for what? No. Don't tell me. I don't want to know. HUD should be eliminated so we can save all that money or pay down the national debt. And the Fair Housing Act of 1968? Never underestimate the damage done to this country by Lyndon Baines Johnson. I still think he was worse than Obama but Obama is gaining on him.
[AnNahar] The Belgian government said Wednesday that it has in recent months helped 244 Christians to escape from Syria and move to Belgium with refugee status, most of them families with children.
The humanitarian operation began in May to "save" some of the most vulnerable people in Aleppo, Syria's second city where Salafist tough guys are gaining ground, Foreign Minister Didier Reynders told a presser in Brussels.
The minority Christians were selected by a citizen "action committee" run by a Belgian diplomat and a psychiatrist with a network of contacts in the country. They left Aleppo in small groups and in seven phases.
They reached the Lebanese border "on their own, crossing very dangerous areas of Syria", then received support from the Belgian embassy in Beirut which arranged for refugee visas after a "very precise screening" by the intelligence services, Reynders said.
The minister said the operation was just "a drop" compared to the scale of Europe's migration crisis, but he expressed hope that it could set an example to other countries.
Belgium wants to boost its image as a welcoming country for those fleeing war while a debate rages between EU members on the distribution of 40,000 asylum seekers who arrived in Italia and Greece after dangerous Mediterranean crossings.
The Christian Syrians are to receive training, particularly in language skills, and helped to find jobs after gaining their refugee status in Belgium.
"They will receive permanent protection status" allowing them to "rebuild a future in Belgium", said Theo Francken, Secretary of State for Asylum Policy and Migration.
"I can tell you that the last thing they want is to be dependent on social security," said Francken, a member of the nationalist New Phlegmish Alliance (N-VA).
About 5,500 Syrian refugees of all faiths have been welcomed in Belgium since the war broke out in 2011, according to the Belgian government, which says "98 percent" of the Syrians who request refugee status get it.
[Philstar] The military blamed a grenade attack that left 11 civilians injured in Jolo, Sulu on the Abu Sayyaf group.
Col. Alan Arrojado said the attack was perpetrated by the members of the Ajang-Ajang group under its leader Ninok Sapari. He said the lone attacker hurled the grenade at an incoming military truck carrying soldiers early Tuesday morning but missed the target. The grenade landed on a group of civilian bystanders and then exploded.
Arrojado said at least 11 were wounded by the blast as the suspect quickly fled on board a motorcycle towards Patikul town, a known Abu Sayyaf stronghold.
[THESMOKINGGUN] Federal agents last night nabbed Please don't kill me! a baby-faced Nebraska boy, 12, for his role in the murder of a man during an armed robbery.
Jarrell Milton was collared by U.S. Marshals Service agents in Minneapolis, nearly 400 miles from the boy's Omaha, Nebraska residence.
Investigators allege that Milton and two other boys--Shuntayvious Primes-Willis, 15, and Jamar Milton, 17--last month lured two men to an Omaha park with the ruse of conducting a marijuana sale. Jarrell and Jamar are brothers.
What the hell kind of name is "Shuntayvious"?
Instead, cops say, the trio first flashed guns during the meeting and then opened fire on the two victims, one of whom was shot to death, while the other man was maimed. According to prosecutors, the three alleged assailants all have gang affiliations.
Primes-Willis and the elder Milton have been charged as adults with first-degree murder. Police have recovered two guns used during the crime and are searching for a third weapon.
Jarrell Milton will be returned to Omaha, though it is unclear what charges will be filed against him. Investigators did not disclose how the boy got to Minnesota or who might have helped him flee Nebraska.
Obviously since he's 12 years old he managed to get there by himself...
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#1
Ethnic naming in the black community has gotten comical, matched only by how uncivilized the behavior of feral youth has really become. Sad that in rejecting traditional American attitudes, standards and norms, they have self-segregated far beyond the historic segregation of the early 20th century. We are a nation fast growing apart and fracturing along lines imposed by the mandate of diversity, less a union than a mere 20 years ago. Nice work Obama, you ignorant jackass!
#2
7 kids. Every last one paid for by Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer. Unfortunately, the costs have just begun.
Posted by: Whonter Darling of the Bunions4601 ||
07/09/2015 1:31
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What the hell kind of name is "Shuntayvious"?
Bet I'm not teh only reader to see a little ripple in the matrix, encountering that. "The Derb" used a similar name in a podcast on the Brinsley thing back in January, that I happened to hear just a few days ago. I can't vouch for his motives or associations, but jeez, is he funny! And what a work ethic! And now he's a trickster time-traveler prophet or something. Yes, I'm totally ate up with envy. There's an audio player at the top of that page.
Posted by: Flainter Protector of the Welsh8616 ||
07/09/2015 4:13
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Those names are purposeful -- they know they're ridiculous, and know it renders the child unemployable above a menial level.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/09/2015 7:05
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Sad that in rejecting traditional American attitudes, standards and norms, they have self-segregated far beyond the historic segregation of the early 20th century.
Not to worry! Our Champ has issued an edict to help make us all adopt those same values and integrate with our fellow ethic-Americans. Did this used to be Is this a great country, or what?
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/09/2015 7:26
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Shuntayvious is the superlative form. Shuntay, Shuntayver (or -var in some local variants), Shuntayvious. An interesting demonstration of someone's grasp of standard American English grammar.
[TELEGRAPH.CO.UK] Internet trolls face up to two years' jail in New Zealand under a controversial new law which bans "harmful digital communications".
And under a parallel amendment to New Zealand's Crimes Act, a person who tells another to kill themselves faces up to three years in prison.
The law will help mitigate the harm caused by cyber-bulling and give victims a quick and effective means of redress, supporters said.
But critics said the law harms free speech and its fine print could threaten public interest journalism in the country.
Under the Harmful Digital Communications Act in effect from this week, anyone convicted of "causing harm by posting digital communication" faces two years in prison and a $50,000 (NZ) (£6,500) fine, while businesses face fines of up to $200,000 (NZ).
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critics said the law harms free speech
Harms? This totally obliterates the entire concept of free speech by arrogating to the government an open ended heckler's/terrorists veto.
New Zealand has been trying to become a Progressive totalitarian utopia for years.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least three coppers were maimed as Talibs launched coordinated suicide kabooms on a police check post in Paktia province.
The incident took place on Wednesday evening on Zurmat-Gardez highway where a police check post was targeted.
The provincial police chief Zalmai Orya Khel said a jacket wallah detonated a vehicle packed with explosives near the police check post while he was trying to enter the city and was identified by the security forces.
He said the second boom-mobileexploded a few minutes later following the first blast and heavy shootout was triggered after a group of faceless myrmidons launched attack on the check post.
Orya Khel confirmed that nine Taliban faceless myrmidons were killed and three copperswere maimed in the attack.
The Talibs group grabbed credit behind the coordinated attack and said several coppers were killed in the attack.
Taliban group front man Zabiullah Mujahid said the attack was carried out in Hastogna area on a key check post belonging to police and militia forces.
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[DAWN] THE report submitted by the National Accountability Bureau to the Supreme Court listing the details of 150 cases being pursued by NAB inspires little confidence. For one, the list appears to be a casual exercise, giving only a broad outline of the cases with names and the "gist of allegation", with amounts arbitrarily put down. Many of the cases are over a decade old, yet are listed as "inquiry under progress". The history of pursuing corruption cases in Pakistain is a chequered one mainly because of the repeated compromises struck between parties on account of political interference, the selective nature of the allegations, and political motivations behind many of the charges. It is worth noting the absence of names from the armed forces on the list. Why is it that three generals named in the Asghar Khan case, against whom the Supreme Court ordered legal proceedings, have still not been prosecuted? It is also worth recalling the zeal with which Gen Musharraf promised to pursue corruption cases at the start of his decade in power. Within a few years, he was forced to reach out to the same political class he had vilified in the early stages for being corrupt, and NAB granted a clean bill of health to the leadership of the PML-Q while continuing to pursue cases against the leaders of the other parties. This ignominious history ended with the NRO that saw Gen Musharraf come full circle in bargaining away his corruption allegations in return for political support.
In fact, one of the main reasons why NAB's list of pending cases is so long is precisely because corruption has become a political trope in our lexicon, a generic allegation with which to smear political opponents. The selective use of corruption allegations means that the real culprits get away. Everybody knows how large a role corruption plays in the articulation of our politics and distortion of our policy environment, but the only place where the allegations get to stick is in the public perception, rarely ever in a court of law. By not being able to solve the cases before it, NAB proves that corruption is little more than a red herring in our society, used to malign and victimise political opponents. Establishing an independent anti-corruption body is necessary, with appropriate powers to initiate an inquiry and take it all the way to prosecution. But ensuring that such a body is not politicised will be a big challenge.
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[DAWN] GUJRANWALA: A youth allegedly attempted to rape a nine-year-old girl in Gujranwala and later tried to burn her alive, DawnNews reported Wednesday night.
Suspect Jameel Khan allegedly assaulted the nine-year-old daughter of a labourer living in the jurisdiction of Wahindu cop shoppe in Gujranwala district.
The victim was also reportedly set on fire by the suspect. She was shifted to Civil Hospital at death's door where she was given medical treatment. According to doctors, around 30 per cent of her body has been burnt.
According to the victim's mother, her daughter was on her way back from her grandmother's house when the alleged suspect kidnapped her and later attempted to sexually assault her.
Police has begun its investigation into the incident. According to police, the suspect's daughter had quarrelled with the victim a few days ago which had angered him -- a possible motive for the attack.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 43 forces of Evil were killed in separate drone strikes in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province of Afghanistan, local officials said Wednesday.
The Arclight airstrikes were carried out in Achin and Haska Mina districts with reports suggesting the forces of Evil were affiliates of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group.
Provincial police front man Hazrat Hussain Mashriqwal said at least 18 forces of Evil were killed in Achin district and 25 others were killed in Haska Mina district.
He said the Arclight airstrikes were carried out late on Tuesday afternoon but did not provide further details regarding the identities of those killed.
The latest Arclight airstrike comes as at least 49 forces of Evil affiliated with the ISIS terror group were killed in separate drone strikes in Achin district two days back.
The Afghan Intelligence -- National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) also announced Tuesday that the ISIS group's second-in-command was killed along with 6 forces of Evil in Achin district.
The anti-government armed holy warrior groups have not commented regarding the incident so far.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs beheaded three coppers in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan, the local government officials said Wednesday.
The coppers were kidnapped by the murderous Moslems few days earlier and their dead bodies were found from Qaisar-Ghormach highway.
District administrative chief for Qaisar, Abdul Jamil Sediqi, confirmed that the decapitated bodies of the coppers were found today.
He said the coppers were serving with the highway police and were kidnapped while they were on their to spend holidays with their families.
The Taliban group had confirmed that the coppers were kidnapped by Talibs but the group has so far not commented regarding the execution of the coppers.
The group had earlier said the cases of the coppers will be reviewed in Sharia court and will be tried accordingly.
Faryab is among the relatively volatile provinces in northern Afghanistan where anti-government armed murderous Moslems are actively operating and frequently carry out insurgency activities.
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Israel's Shin Bet security agency says it has tossed in the calaboose Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! six Bedouins for establishing a cell supportive of the ISIS.
The agency said Monday that four of those arrested were teachers and tried to indoctrinate students at their schools with the bad boy group's ideas.
It said they intended to travel to Syria and fight for the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group, which controls about a third of Iraq and Syria. The group governs its self-styled caliphate in accordance with an extreme interpretation of Islamic law, carrying out cruel and often choreographed killings.
Shin Bet said the men were from Hura, a Bedouin township in the Negev desert. Bedouin make up a small group within Israel's Arab minority, numbering about 180,000.
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[CNBC] Hedge fund billionaire George Soros's charitable foundation may be kicked out of Russia, as Moscow considers banning foreign non-governmental organizations (NGO) that promote democracy.
TASS, Russia's state-owned media service, reported on Wednesday that the Federation Council would consider a "stop list" of NGOs accused of carrying out "soft aggression" in the country.
Twelve organizations are on the "patriotic 'stop list,'" including Soros' grant-making foundation. It aims to promote "vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens," according to the Open Society Foundations website, which was founded by Soros.
CNBC believes this is the "Soros Foundation" to which TASS refers. However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... Open Society Foundations was not immediately available to comment.
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[Bangkok Post] A man and his wife were seriously injured by a motorcyle pillion gunman in Narathiwat province on Wednesday.
The attack occurred around noon when Sukree Haji Salae and his wife Raina Da-o, were traveling on a motorcycle to Tak Bai district. Two men followed them on another motorcycle and the pillion rider shot at the couple six times with a 9mm pistol. Mr Sukree was hit twice in the left leg and his wife was shot four times in the left leg.
Police are still investigating, but initially attributed the attack to insurgents.
[Tolo News] The Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament) on Wednesday rejected Anisa Rassouli as a member of the Supreme Court's High Council -- if approved; she would be the first female judge in the Supreme Court in the country's recent history.
Rassouli got 88 votes in her favor as she required 94 votes to get approved as a senior judge in the Supreme Court.
She was introduced to the Parliament about two weeks ago after President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. during last year's election campaign promised to appoint a female judge to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, ...back at the comedy club, Boogie sadly admitted that he was a better peeping Tom than he was a comedian... the Parliament approved Khalilullah Sediq as the governor of Central Bank and Sayed Yousuf Halim as a member of Supreme Court.
Sediq obtained 100 votes and Halim received 103 votes from a total of 187 MPs present at the voting day.
Before the voting process started, Halim while presenting his future plan promised to the politicians to ensure justice, fight corruption and introduce new strategies to the country's judicial system.
"I will miss no opportunity to implement my plans," he said, emphasizing on a broad judicial reform.
Pointing to the Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... Bank crises, the new central bank governor promised to introduce new strategies to avoid any further banking crises in the country and appreciate the value of Afghani currency.
This comes as earlier this week, the Wolesi Jirga also rejected Masoom Stanekzai as the minister of defense. He got only 84 votes out of 107 required.
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We have a female Supreme Court justice or two that we could provide on permanent loan...
[Tolo News] Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... on Tuesday visited northern Kunduz province to meet with local leaders and assure residents that their mounting security and governance problems will soon be addressed.
During his speech, Abdullah acknowledged that the central government leadership had not fully gauged the extent to which security, rule of law and public services had deteriorated in Kunduz.
"I confess that I was unclear about the status of Kunduz, with its insecurity and lack of public services," Abdullah said. "But I tell you here now that President Ghani and I are committed to serving you. I am telling you honestly that this situation is unacceptable for us," he added.
While Abdullah praised the sacrifices made by members of the security forces, who have faced some of the fiercest fighting with gunnies in Kunduz in recent months, he also criticized provincial security leaders, saying that if the forces were better mobilized and led the right way, then the security situation in the province and in the country as a whole would improve.
"After this I will talk with defense and security officials and raise the issue in the security council, so that the shortages are addressed and the existing opportunities and capacities are utilized correctly," Abdullah said.
In addition to pointing blame at the leadership of security forces in the province, Abdullah also suggested the problems currently faced by Kunduz are tied back to neglectful policies on the part of the previous government, led by former president Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... .
"Part of the problems are from the past nine months, which we are responsible for, but the negligence of the pervious government - we are not responsible for that," Abdullah said. "Commanders came here and honestly served the people and bit the dust in serving the people and the country, but these commanders were blamed in Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... for committing a genocide in Kunduz," Abdullah added.
This is the first visit Abdullah has made to Kunduz since becoming the Chief Executive Officer of the national unity government. Previously, he visited the province during the 2014 presidential election.
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[ALMANAR.LB] At least 22 people have died in festivities between Berber and Arab communities in southern Algeria on the edge of the Sahara desert, the national news agency APS reported Wednesday.
It was the bloodiest toll in two years of frequent festivities between the communities.
APS said another 19 people maimed in two days of festivities between Chaamba Arabs and Mozabite Berbers in the M'zab valley had shuffled off the mortal coil, raising the toll since Tuesday to 22.
Dozens of other people were hurt in the Tuesday-Wednesday violence, the agency said, citing hospital sources and local officials.
Homes, shops, public buildings, cars and palm groves were set on fire in the area of Guerrara and the region's main town of Ghardaia, 600 kilometers south of Algiers.
Interior Minister Nouredine Bedoui travelled to the stricken region, APS reported, as police reinforcements were dispatched from Algiers.
The latest round of festivities in M'zab broke out last week, prompting the deployment of anti-riot personnel who have fired tear gas to disperse crowds.
Hundreds of homes and shops, mostly of Mozabites, have been ransacked in and around Ghardaia since centuries-old good ties between the area's Arabs and Berbers broke down in December 2013, mostly over property disputes and after vandals destroyed a historic Berber shrine in December 2013.
Ghardaia is a UNESCO world heritage site renowned for its traditional white-washed houses and bustling market, selling jewelry, carpets and leather.
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[DAWN] The Sindh government on Tuesday imposed a ban on pillion-riding in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , Hyderabad and Sukkur for two days for the security of Yaum-e-Ali processions that are taken out on the 21st of Ramazan, an official said.
The official at the Sindh home department said that the provincial administration on the advice of police authorities banned pillion-riding under Section 144 (power to issue order absolute at once in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger) of the criminal procedure code and the ban would be effective from Wednesday midnight for two days -- July 8 and 9.
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[DAWN] A sessions court on Tuesday sentenced a man to life imprisonment in a rape case.
The convict, Tahir, was found guilty of subjecting a six-year-old girl to a sexual assault on the premises of a seminary in October 2011 in the Zaman Town area.
Additional District and Sessions Judge (east) Nadeem Ahmed Khan pronounced his verdict after recording the testimonies of witnesses and final arguments from both sides.
The court also directed the convict to pay Rs50,000 to the complainant as compensation and in case of default he would have to undergo an additional three-month imprisonment.
The court in its judgement observed that the victim had specifically deposed against the accused and the witnesses also testified that they saw the accused with her before the offence.
The medical and other documentary evidence also corroborated the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses and the case stood proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, it added.
According to the prosecution, the accused was a madressah student and he took the girl to the rooftop of the seminary and raped her.
Later, the accused was incarcerated Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! and a case was registered under Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Pakistain Penal Code at the Zaman Town cop shoppe.
The court extended the benefit of Section 382-B (period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment) of the criminal procedure code to the convict.
A life term in Pakistain means 25 years in prison.
Jail authorities produced the accused in court and following the pronouncement of the verdict he was remanded back to prison along with a conviction warrant to serve out the remainder of his sentence.
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[DAWN] The Sindh government issued a much-awaited notification in the early hours of Thursday morning, extending the special policing powers assigned to Rangers in the province for a month, after a high-level meeting between bigwigs at the CM House.
Special policing powers assigned to Rangers in the province, which have in the past been extended every few months via orders from the provincial government, had expired on Wednesday at midnight -- July 8, 2015.
Before the issuance of an official notification by the Sindh government in this regard, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah held a meeting with Pakistain Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Baby Bhutto Zardari ...Pak dynastic politician, son of Benazir Bhutto and grandon of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. As far as is known, Bilawal has no particular talents other than being pretty and being able to memorize political slogans, but he had the good luck to be born into the right family and he hasn't been assassinated yet... to discuss the issue of Rangers' special powers in Sindh.
It had also been reported on local media that former president and PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari talked to Qaim Ali Shah via telephone from Dubai earlier on Wednesday, asking him to expedite the process to issue the notification seeking extension in the duration of Rangers' policing powers in Sindh.
While the Sindh government has been granting extensions in the duration of Rangers' policing powers via notifications from the home department every three months since 2010, this time around a standoff between the paramilitary force and the Sindh government had led the chief minister to mull other options.
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The Victory Army and Syrian regime representative exchanged prisoners Tuesday in the Idlib countryside according to several opposition and regime sources.
Conflicting accounts have emerged of who was released in Ariha, site of one of the last remaining regime bases in Idlib province that was captured by the Idlib Victory Army at the end of May.
Ten women and six men were released by the regime in exchange for three regime soldiers held by Jabhat a-Nusra, a leading Victory Army faction, reported pro-opposition Orient News on Wednesday.
One of the women was reportedly the mother of a correspondent for Orient News.
State-owned Tishreen newspaper confirmed the prisoner exchange, claiming that "terrorist organizations" released 27 individuals they kidnapped from Ishtabraq.
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[ALMANAR.LB] The Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forbidden the head of the Mossad on Tuesday to brief Zionist Union Knesset members on the threat posed by the so-called 'Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... group in the Sinai Peninsula.
Zionist Union faction chairwoman Merav Michaeli, who submitted the request, said Netanyahu claimed such a briefing would set a precedent, and therefore, he didn't want to approve it.
Michaeli told the Zionist daily Haaretz that the faction decided it needed more information about ISIL "in light of the recent attacks in Sinai and firing rockets at the occupied Israel."
On Sunday, therefore, she asked Mossad director Tamir Pardo if he would attend Zionist Union's faction meeting in the Knesset on Monday and brief the MKs on the threat that ISIL's presence in Sinai poses to the Zionist entity.
Michaeli said Pardo "agreed gladly," but stipulated that he needed the prime minister's approval.
Michaeli then asked a Netanyahu adviser to forward the faction's request to the prime minister. On Monday morning, the adviser got back to Michaeli and said that Netanyahu wouldn't permit Pardo to give the briefing.
"The prime minister believes this would set a problematic precedent," the adviser told her. "Now, every party will seek such briefings from the Mossad director."
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07/09/2015
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Top|| File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis
[ALMANAR.LB] Syrian Kurdish fighters have recaptured more than 10 villages seized by the so-called 'Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... group north of its de facto capital of Raqqa city, aided by US-led coalition air strikes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Tuesday.
Intensified air strikes across northern Syria and festivities on the ground have killed at least 78 ISIL fighters since Sunday night, the opposition Britannia-based Observatory said.
The strikes are some of the most sustained since they began in September, according to US officials who say they are aimed at curbing the myrmidons' ability to operate out of Raqqa and to prevent it from fighting back against Kurdish advances.
But, on Tuesday, the ISIL was still in control of Ain Issa, the Observatory said. The town, 50 km (30 miles) north of Raqqa city, was seized by ISIL Lions of Islam from the Kurdish YPG militia in an attack on Monday.
The YPG, a militia operating mostly in predominantly Kurdish areas of northern Syria towards the Turkish border, has emerged as the only significant partner in Syria for US-led alliance fighting to tackle ISIL both there and in Iraq.
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07/09/2015
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[RFE/RL] Tens of thousands of Afghans have fled their homes in northern Afghanistan in the face of a fierce offensive by the Taliban. Many have sought refuge in Balkh Province, the last oasis of relative peace in the region.
Governor Atta Mohammad Noor, a powerful former warlord, has run the province with an iron fist for the past 12 years, making the it one of the most stable and prosperous in the country. Balkh's stability has also been a major focus of NATO forces, due to its strategic location.
Migration officials estimate the number of internally displaced persons in Balkh to be as high as 20,000.
Taliban fighters conducted a major spring offensive in northern Afghanistan, which had been relatively stable compared with the south and east of the country. But now, battles are raging across the area.
Even Balkh has not been shielded from the increasing violence.
In several districts, the Taliban is waging war with Afghan soldiers and pro-government militias, causing residents to flee to Mazar-e Sharif and its surrounding areas.
Agha Jan, an elderly farmer from Chimtal district, said, "So many of our people were killed and taken. We had to leave our area. Eighteen people were killed by the Taliban in our village alone."
Jan says they were not only being targeted by the Taliban, but were also being preyed upon by pro-government militias. He said, "During the day, the Taliban would beat us up and ransack our homes. During the night, it was the militias' turn."
[APNEWS.MYWAY] A law enforcement official says the weapon used in the shooting death of a woman on a the Socialist paradise of San Francisco ...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964... pier belonged to a federal agent -- the latest twist in a case that has become a flashpoint in the country's debate over immigration.
The official, who had been briefed on the matter, said Tuesday that a check of the gun's serial number shows it belonged to a federal agent.
The official -- who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity -- declined to elaborate.
The San Francisco Police Department, which is investigating the case, refused to comment on the disclosure.
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07/09/2015
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#1
BLM Ranger
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2015 10:07
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#2
And there's soooo few of them out here in the West...
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] A drone strike as part of a U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... hard boyz killed a senior figure from the hardline group in its Syrian stronghold Raqqa city, Rooters reported on Wednesday.
The strike killed an Uzbek leader of the group involved in security as he sat in a car outside a downtown hotel, the the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
Islamic State has attracted imported muscle from across the world to fight in its self-declared caliphate across parts of Syria and Iraq. It has named Raqqa its defacto capital.
The United States says it has intensified an aerial campaign against Islamic State in Syria with a wave of strikes in and around Raqqa city.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Monday heavy bombardment during the weekend that also included destroying bridges over waterways in the city, which is bordered to the south by the Euphrates river, aimed at further eroding the holy warriors' capabilities.
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Iran and major powers gave themselves at least until Friday to negotiate an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, but a source from one of the powers said on Tuesday they had to wrap up in the next 48 hours.
"We are continuing to negotiate for the next couple of days," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said outside the hotel where the marathon talks between Iran, Britannia, China, La Belle France, Germany, Russia and the United States are taking place.
The spokeswoman for the U.S. delegation, Marie Harf, said the terms of an interim deal between Iran and the six would be extended through Friday to give negotiators a few more days to finish their work.
The negotiators had set Tuesday as a deadline when it became clear last week that a June 30 deadline would not be met. But despite a push in the past few days they made clear again that they still needed more time.
"We're frankly more concerned about the quality of the deal than we are about the clock, though we also know that difficult decisions won't get any easier with time," Harf said.
There was disagreement about whether the talks were in effect open-ended. U.S. officials hoped to wrap them up in time for a 4 a.m. GMT Friday (midnight EDT Thursday) deadline to secure an expedited review by the U.S. Congress, but it was unclear if that was possible.
"No deadline is sacrosanct for us," senior Iranian negotiator Abbas Araqchi told news hounds. "We are ready to stay in Vienna and continue talks as long as it is necessary."
Western diplomats said they had not yet given up hope of making the deadline for the U.S. congressional review.
The source from one power, however, said there would be a time limit.
"We've come to the end," said the source, on condition of anonymity. "We have just made one, final extension. It is hard to see how or why we would go beyond this. Either it happens in the next 48 hours, or not."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2015
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Only 48 hours left and then you get another 48 hours!
[ALMANAR.LB] The leader of South Sudan's rebels said Wednesday that the country's civil war would continue as long as President Salva Kiir remained in power.
"We don't feel like we have a peace partner with Salva Kiir," Riek Machar told news hounds in a luxury hotel in the Kenyan capital, saying that previous ceasefires he had signed with the government during the course of the 18-month-old conflict were "born dead".
"The people of South Sudan did not deserve to go back to war, but this was caused by the actions of President Salva Kiir, who we ask to resign today," Machar said.
"Should President Kiir remain adamant and refuse to hand over power back to the people, then the citizens have every right to rise up and overthrow his regime."
The comments came as South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, prepares to mark the fourth anniversary of its independence from Khartoum on Thursday, an event that marked an end to decades of war but only provided a brief respite from conflict.
The civil war in the new nation began when Kiir accused Machar, a former vice president, of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that has split the country along ethnic and tribal lines.
Fighters on both sides are accused of atrocities, and analysts believe tens of thousands of people have died since the war began.
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[Tolo News] At least 14 Afghan Local Police (ALP) force members including their commander have allegedly joined the Taliban in northwestern Faryab province.
The incident happened in Pashtunkot district, Abdul Qadeer Qaderi, the district governor said Wednesday.
"The police commander who have joined the Taliban was also the commander of public uprising against the Taliban in the district," Qaderi said. "He fled the area along with his forces following an attack of Taliban."
According to the district governor, the ALP commander had left the area on the pretext of launching a counter attack on the Taliban.
This comes a day after the head of Provincial Council of Faryab, Sayed Abdul Baqi Hashemi said that Taliban have seized control of 60 villages.
About 3,000 families, he said, have also been displaced from their homes.
However, ars longa, vita brevis... Hashemi accused the government of ignoring calls for support for the locals that have risen against the Taliban.
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07/09/2015
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[ALMANAR.LB] US President Barack Obama Republicans can come along for the ride, but they've got to sit in the back... pledged to increase his country's support for what he called "the moderate opposition in Syria" on Monday and said the United States needed to do more at home to prevent attacks and combat efforts of the so-called 'Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... group to recruit followers.
Obama, speaking during a visit to the Pentagon, noted the difficulty of preventing small-scale attacks by "lone wolves" within the US homeland despite success at preventing large attacks since that of Sept. 11, 2001 on New York and Washington.
"We're going to have to pick up our game to prevent these attacks," he said.
Obama said there were no current plans to send additional US troops overseas and repeated that the fight against ISIL would not be quick.
He said US training of Iraqi forces had been ramped up after being too slow.
The US military said that Iraq had not provided enough recruits to meet US training targets. It has also acknowledged that recruiting and training Syrians to fight ISIL was moving more slowly than expected, partly because of problems with vetting volunteers.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2015
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Yeah... cuz this worked soooo well the last 14 times we have tried it.
I think he just wants to get more weapons to get to ISIS.
[ALMANAR.LB] An Iraqi court sentenced 24 men to death by hanging Wednesday over the June 2014 massacre by Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... bully boyz of hundreds of mostly military recruits in Tikrit.
The central criminal court in Baghdad handed 24 of 28 defendants the maximum sentence over the "Speicher" massacre, named after the base from which the victims were captured before being executed.Tikrit massacre
"After deliberations, the court finds that the evidence collected is sufficient to convict 24 defendants," said the judge. "The court decided they will be executed by hanging."
All 24 denied any involvement in the massacre, committed during the first days of the Takfiri group, ISIL's (so-called Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... in Iraq and Levant), broad offensive in Iraq last year.
Around 600 bodies of victims have been exhumed from burial sites in the Tikrit area. Footage released by ISIL last year shows some of the captured recruits were shot and pushed into the Tigris river.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2015
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Tolo News] At least one policeman was killed and five others including a civilian were maimed in two separate roadside mine blasts Tuesday in western Farah, local official said.
The first blast took place Khak-e-Safid district when a police vehicle struck an Improvised Explosives Device (IED), leaving four coppers and a civilian injured, a front man for Provincial Governor, Jawad Afghan said.
The second blast happened in a different area but the same district after another police vehicle was hit by a roadside mine, killing a policeman, he said.
No group including the Taliban has grabbed credit for the kabooms.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2015
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[ALMANAR.LB] The Saudi Al-Arabiya news network quoted on Wednesday a source in the Yemeni government as confirming that new humanitarian pause is expected in the country within the next hours.
Well-informed Yemeni political sources had expected earlier that the new humanitarian truce ..The purposes of a truce are twofold: 1.) bring up more arms, ammunition, and reinforcements; and 2.) get the enemy to relax his vigilance. A truce is not the same thing as a ceasefire, and a ceasefire doesn't mean you have to stop shooting... would start on Friday.
In the meantime, a diplomatic official said that the runaway Yemeni President Abedrabbu Mansour Hadi will send a letter to the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, expressing his readiness to initiate a 10-day humanitarian truce, starting from the last five days of the holy month of Ramadan till the first five days of Shawwal hijri month, under the condition that Hadi will have the exclusive right to declare it.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2015
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#1
I thought there was an automatic cease-fire for the whole month of Ramadan.
Unless, of course, someone on the other side violates it.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/09/2015 9:54
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#2
Nahhhh - you get Double Mo Points™ for kills during Ramadan
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2015 10:05
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#3
What? Does the losing side need resupply/reinforcements?
[ALMANAR.LB] A US aircraft carrier in the Gulf hosted Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, official media said on Wednesday.
Mohammed bin Salman, who is also defense minister, boarded the USS Theodore Roosevelt which is operating in Gulf waters, the Saudi Press Agency said.
"The visit comes in response to an invitation by the US Department of Defense," it said, adding that Salman was briefed on the carrier's weapons and operations.
The ship is operating in the area of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, which is based in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... 's neighbor Bahrain.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2015
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#1
note that they don't say which Gulf
most published maps call it the 'Persian Gulf' but the Saudis call it the 'Arabian Gulf'
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/09/2015 17:51
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[DAWN] KARACHI: A large number of localities in the metropolis faced a blackout yet again early Thursday as a technical fault developed in the national power grid, DawnNews quoted a front man for the city's major power distributor K-Electric (KE) as saying. This is the second power breakdown in the city in a span of three days.
The front man said the tripping of production units in the national grid led to the breakdown, which plunged a large section of the city into darkness, DawnNews reported.
The outage is affecting a large number of areas in the city, including Liaqatabad, Malir, North Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , Azizabad, Saddar, Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Federal B Area and Garden.
After around two hours since the filing of this report, a KE representative told Dawn.com via telephone that power in several areas of the city was restored while efforts were being made to restore electricity in the areas which still faced the blackout. An exact time for the complete restoration of power could not be quoted, the representative said.
Earlier on Tuesday night, a large part of Pakistain's largest city plunged into darkness when units of Bin Qasim Power Plant got tripped because of some 'technical reasons', disrupting the lives of millions of people.
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07/09/2015
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[DAWN] QUETTA: In a bid to eradicate the crippling polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... virus, the Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... government has formed 'refusal coverage committees' to persuade reluctant parents to administer polio drops to their children.
The committees have been formed in Quetta, Pishin and Killa Abdullah.
"The committees will bring an end to the refusal of polio drops," Coordinator of the Emergency Operation Cell Balochistan Dr Syed Saifur Rehman told DawnNews.
The Deputy Commissioner will lead the refusal coverage committees, while district health officers, religious scholars, representatives of the World Health Organisation, Unicef, and others will be members of the committee.
"This will be an eight-member committee," Dr Saifur Rehman elaborated.
The mandate of the committee is to encourage parents resisting the provision of polio drops to their children. The role of religious scholars in these refusal coverage committees is crucial, he added.
"The number of refusals is not in hundreds but in thousands," Dr Saifur Rehman said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2015
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
MARIUPOL, Ukraine — Wearing camouflage, with a bushy salt-and-pepper beard flowing over his chest and a bowie knife sheathed prominently in his belt, the man cut a fearsome figure in the nearly empty restaurant. Waiters hovered apprehensively near the kitchen, and try as he might, the man who calls himself “Muslim,” a former Chechen warlord, could not wave them over for more tea.
Even for Ukrainians hardened by more than a year of war here against Russian-backed separatists, the appearance of Islamic combatants, mostly Chechens, in towns near the front lines comes as something of a surprise — and for many of the Ukrainians, a welcome one.
“We like to fight the Russians,” said the Chechen, who refused to give his real name. “We always fight the Russians.”
He commands one of three volunteer Islamic battalions out of about 30 volunteer units in total fighting now in eastern Ukraine. The Islamic battalions are deployed to the hottest zones, which is why the Chechen was here.
Fighting is intensifying around Mariupol, a strategic seaport and industrial hub that the separatists have long coveted. Monitors for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe say they have seen steady nighttime shipments of Russian military equipment on a rail line north of here.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The United States and its allies conducted 31 air strikes against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... in Iraq and Syria on Monday, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement released early Wednesday.
In Syria, the strikes were focused near Tal Abyad, where seven bomber, fighter and drone attacks hit tactical units for the Lion of Islam group and also destroyed vehicles and fighting positions, according to the Combined Joint Task Force statement. Out of the total 15 strikes in the country, there also were four near Al Hasakah and two near Aleppo, as well as strikes near Ar Raqqah and Kobani.
Sixteen air strikes in Iraq were spread throughout the country, hitting targets near Al Asad, Al Huwayjah, Baji, Falluja, Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... Makhmur, djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , Sinjar and Tal Afar. Islamic State targets near Haditha, though, bore the brunt of the force in the country, with five strikes hitting tactical units and destroying vehicles, an armored personnel carrier and weaponry.
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07/09/2015
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[The Hudson Institute] The Central Intelligence Agency is once again mired in crisis. CIA Director John Brennan finds himself "deeply concerned." The spy agency he runs suffers from an affliction that he says has "persisted despite repeated efforts by Agency leaders to address it." A newly discovered shortfall which must be corrected well in advance of Presidential Inauguration Day 2017.
What is ailing this vital shadow government guardian of national security? The CIA's upper echelon, Mr. Brennan said on Tuesday, does "not reflect the diversity of the Agency workforce or of the nation."
Mr. Brennan was commenting on the "Director's Diversity in Leadership Study," an unclassified report released that day. The study comes to the "unequivocal conclusion," he said in a statement, that there has been a major failure at the agency in the "crucial" area of diversity and inclusiveness. Mission failures were not mentioned.
The CIA director commissioned the study last year, convening a panel of experts to perform a comprehensive assessment of diversity in the agency's workforce. The study is partly based on the results of an "Agency-wide instrument"--in non-spy-speak, "instrument" means questionnaire--developed in conjunction with research psychologists attached to the CIA's Office of Medical Services. It also draws on hundreds of formal and informal interviews and 28 focus groups, including not only spies based at headquarters in Langley, Va., but also agents working incognito in a dozen undisclosed locations out in the cold.
The report is unsparing. Senior positions at the "highest levels of the CIA" are "consistently occupied by white male career officers." While minority officers make up 23.9% of the CIA workforce, the higher echelons of the CIA don't come close to that number. For example, the Senior Intelligence Service, the creme de la creme of the spy agency's personnel, manages only a 10.8% minority composition. Spies with disabilities and LGBT spies, according to the report, are no better represented in the CIA's upper leadership, though women are generally faring well.
[ALMANAR.LB] The United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... expressed "deep concerns" on Tuesday about worsening violence in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... as the civilian corpse count in recent fighting passes 1,500.
New data released by the UN on Tuesday also says that 92 civilians, including 18 women and 18 children, have been killed in the last two weeks.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' spokeswoman, Cecile Pouilly, told news hounds in Geneva on Tuesday that over 3,600 civilians had also been injured in festivities.
On March 25, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and its Arab and western allies began an extensive air campaign targeting the Yemeni people across the country.
Despite pressure from the UN and the international community for a cease-fire agreement during Ramadan, violence has continued.
"Over one million civilians have been internally displaced or have sought refuge in neighboring countries since the conflict began," Pouilly added.
The UN has also accused all sides of human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... abuses and breaches of humanitarian law, including attacks on aid workers, medical staff and journalists.
Worthy to note that all attacks launched by Yemeni army and the Popular Committees are concentrated against al-Qaeda holy warriors operating in the country and against the Saudi military posts in border area, from which the Saudi aggressor launch strikes against the neighboring Yemen.
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Top|| File under: Houthis
However, there are contingency plans about to be tested in states that are considered "hostile" such as in Texas and Utah along with other Southwestern states. Federal troops will be involved.
These exercises will consist of members of the military wearing civilian clothes and driving civilian cars who will blend in with the general population of the community. Once back at their base they will meet with JIDC (Joint Interrogation Detention Center) personnel for debriefing.
After intelligence is gathered operations will occur in the communities with local police being notified only of their presence but not of their practice mission and the personnel will have an arm band identifying them similar to this photo:
and they will be armed but their weapons will have blanks and MWDs Military Working Dogs will be a part if this stage of operations. Their activities will occur in the middle of the night could be considered disruptive to the community. A medic will be a part of each operation to provide medical care to detainees and/or to military personnel in the event of injury during an encounter with resistance to the operation.
Detainees (at this time personnel acting as detainees) will be transported to an Internment facility such as a vacant school, retail location (vacant Walmart?) where they will be processed by Internment/Resettlement personnel and then interrogated by JIDC.
Per US Army document FM 3-39.40 the media is not allowed to embed with the operation or have any contact with CI (civilian internees).
This event starts on July 15, 2015 in several states and is called Jade Helm 15 (Joint Assistant for Deployment and Execution Homeland Eradication of Local Militants 2015) and will conclude on September 15.
This will be critical to protecting the power of the state in the event of backlash to federal regulations such as violations to new ITAR restrictions implemented by Presidential Executive Order banning any publication of firearm or ammunition technical detail discussions that carry a 1 million dollar fine and up to 20 years in Federal Prison if anyone in hostile states are in violation of the new "law".
#6
^ a lot already did due to City of Seattle restrictions and zoning abuses of those "Icky" 2nd Amendment vendors
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2015 8:46
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#7
Make it yearly, then subtract $1 for every gun crime using an illegal gun and $1 for every crime stopped because of a legal gun. Then provide a refund of total value if necessary.
If only legal guns are being used to commit crimes nobody should be opposed. Otherwise it comes off as needless taxation/distraction or outright attempts to disarm voters.
#14
Sounds a lot like the brilliant -- and unconstitutional -- idea of taxing newsprint.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/09/2015 16:48
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#15
Ebbomosh: I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same
Note that those come before the "obey orders" and every boot is drilled about lawful orders and the duty to question or refuse unlawful orders.
MOGADISHU -- Somalia’s director of neighborhood watch program has survived an assassination attempt on his life after bomb explosives fitted into his car exploded in Mogadishu, police said.
Mr. Abdikahiim Sheikh Mohamed said that he escaped an explosion which was wanted to kill him. He added that he came out of his car when the bomb went off in Mogadishu.
No one else was killed or injured in the bomb blast, according to police officer who spoke to Shabelle Media on condition of anonymity because of he was not authorized to speak on the media.
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07/09/2015
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[DAWN] KARACHI: Metropolitan police has extended Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain ...think of the head of the Barzini clan, only in Urdu... 's bail in a money laundering case till October, a party front man said Wednesday.
His bail was due to expire on Jul 9, 2015 (tomorrow).
Other senior members whose bail has been extended by the London police include Mohammed Anwar and Tariq Mir, according to the statement.
"We can confirm that the Metropolitan Police has extended the police bail of the Founder and Leader of MQM, Mr Altaf Hussain as well as senior MQM members Mr Tariq Mir and Mr Mohammed Anwar until the 5th, 6th and 7th October respectively."
Altaf Hussain's last bail extension had come on April 14 this year after he was interviewed for more than five hours at a cop shoppe in London.
The MQM supremo was first enjugged Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! on June 3, 2014 during the course of a money laundering investigation initiated in July 2013 by the London Metropolitan Police, prompting thousands of people in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... to stage a sit-in calling for his release.
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07/09/2015
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) -- Afghanistan's intelligence agency -- has nabbed Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! three terrorist in capital Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... A statement issued on Wednesday by the NDS states that the group was sent to Kabul after receiving two months of terrorist training.
This is what happens when you grow up in Afghanistan instead of Omaha...
The statement identifies the Death Eaters as Gawhar Rahman S/O Rahman Adina, Mohammad Zakir S/O Mohammad Sharif a resident of the Wardoj District of Badakhshan province and Mohammad Halim S/O Ghulam Habib a resident of Pul-e-Khumri the lovely provincial capital of Baghlan province.
NDS statement adds that the group has been trained for suicide kabooms, using weapons and making bombs. According to the statement, the group has confessed to its link with terrorist activities.
The statements issued by Afghanistan's spy agency usually do not contain the exact date of the achievement but they come after recent actions.
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#1
According to the statement, the group has confessed to its link with terrorist activities.
I hope that was painful
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2015 8:50
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[ALMANAR.LB] Pak paramilitary forces killed three suspected Death Eaters, including a senior commander, in the country's restive southwest on Tuesday, officials said, following two days of deadly attacks on civic points.
Tuesday's raid in Quetta in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province - which has been racked by sectarian violence in recent years - came as authorities incarcerated Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! 39 suspected turbans in a separate operation.
"Our forces raided a compound in the eastern outskirts of Quetta today and killed three Death Eaters," a front man for the Frontier Corps ...a provincial paramilitary force. Total manpower is about 80,000. They are tasked to help local law enforcement in the maintenance of law and order, and to carry out border patrol and anti-smuggling operations.... (FC) force said, adding that troops seized eight hand grenades and five small machine guns.
"One of the dead turbans has been identified as Mehmood Rind who was chief of Jaish-ul-Islam (Arabic translation of Islam army) takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... group in Balochistan," Akbar Hussain Durrani, the provincial home secretary, said.
A night market bombing in the city on Sunday killed one and maimed eight, and was claimed by both Jaish-ul-Islam and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... , another high profile takfiri group.
The blast was followed Monday by the gunning down of two brothers at a passport office and a policeman who was at the scene.
Police and paramilitary forces have rounded up 39 suspects in connection with Monday's shooting, the FC front man said.
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Syrian rebels in control of the spring that provides most of Damascus's drinking water have threatened to shut off pipelines to the capital if the regime and Hezbollah continue their offensive in Zabadani.
Pro-regime daily Al-Akhbar highlighted the danger on Tuesday, writing that "feelings of concern have dominated the Damascene street" following the threat by rebels in control of the Ayn al-Fijeh spring in Wadi Barada northwest of Damascus.
"The threat by Wadi Barada's bandidosmurderous Moslems to cut off the Syrian capital's water supply if the Zabadani operation... does not stop has cast its shadow on Damascenes, who are waiting for a safe end to the Moslem holy month of Ramadan," the Lebanese newspaper added.
On Sunday, the Wadi Barada Shura Council announced in a statement that water piped from the Fijeh spring to Damascus will be cut off in an attempt to make regime forces stop their advance.
"Religion commands us to come to the aid of our brothers, and therefore, we the mujahedeen of Wadi Barada announce that we shall stand in one trench with our brothers in the proud town of Zabadani," the statement read.
"We will not spare any of our numbers or equipment to achieve this end."
"With the help of God almighty, after a meeting of the Wadi Barada Shura Council, it was agreed that the water [supply to] Damascus should be completely cut off until the shelling of our people in Zabadani stops."
The Wadi Barada Shura Council statement came the same day as Hezbollah and the Syrian Army's Fourth Mechanized Division stormed into the west and southeast of Zabadani following days of intense barrel bombings and missile strikes on the rebel-held town northwest of Damascus.
The regime offensive as of Tuesday has failed to seize the town in its entirety, with rebels putting up a fierce resistance and retaking some areas while inflicting casualties on Hezbollah and the regime troops.
Syrian rebels first seized Wadi Barada and the town of Ayn al-Fijeh in February 2012, after which they negotiated a cautious truce with the Syrian regime to retain control over the area in exchange for not cutting off the water supply or destroying the spring while regime technicians were allowed to continue working.
However, a woman is only as old as she admits... the tenuous agreement has frayed a number of times, with rebels cutting off water at least three times to pressure the regime to stop shelling Wadi Barada, release detainees or open access to aid, including in November 2014 when drinking water to Damascus was turned off for four days.
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The government on Tuesday added another year to the Maritime Self-Defense Force mission to protect commercial vessels from pirate attacks off Somalia. The sixth extension of the operation, which began in 2009, is to help ensure the security of the important sea lane off East Africa under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policy of making proactive contributions to maintaining international peace and stability.
The mission will remain composed chiefly of two MSDF escort vessels and two P-3C patrol aircraft, involving about 600 personnel.
Japan joined multinational anti-piracy operations led by the United States and Britain in December 2013, and this May sent a senior MSDF officer to command the multinational force for the first time.
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[ALMANAR.LB] Around 100 Yemeni officers and soldiers were killed on Wednesday, and 250 others were maimed in a Saudi-US aerial attack on Brigade 23-Mika military camp in AL-Abar area of Hadramout ...the formerly independent Qu'aiti state and sultanate, annexed by Communist South Yemen in 1968, encompassing a region along the Gulf of Aden, extending eastwards to the borders of the Dhofar region of Oman. The people are called Hadhramis and speak Hadhrami Arabic. The city Tarimis is estimated to contain the highest concentration of descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (PTUI) anywhere in the world, approximately seven in every square yard... province east of the country.
Al-Manar TV correspondent reported that the Saudi-led bombardment on Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... targeted ammunition warehouses and oil tankers.
Brigade 21-Mika is also deployed in the area, and gunnies of the runaway President Abedrabbu Mansour Hadi receive their training in the place.
Sources told Al-Manar that the Brigade 21-Mika Chief of Staff was killed in the attack, along with two of pro-Hadi commanders: Brigadier General Ahmad Al-Abara and Colonel Jamil Sanhoob.
Al-Manar TV news hound said that bombing of the Brigade 23-Mika in Hadramout came after the soldiers expelled Major General Mohammad Ali Almaqdeshi, appointed by Hadi as a chief of staff and tasked with forming an alternative pro-Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... army.
For its part, Agence La Belle France Presse quoted a Yemeni military source as saying that the Saudi warplanes bombed the Yemeni military site because a number of the Yemeni military personnel joined Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... forces to fight the Saudi-US aggression.
Moreover, The Saudi killing machine launched an aerial raid on a popular market in Omran province , killing 7 people who were making shopping for their fast-breaking.
More than 2,800 people have been killed since the Saudi-US military campaign began on March 26. The United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... said more than 21 million people, over 80 percent of the population, are now in need of some form of humanitarian aid.
The UN designated last week the war in Yemen as a Level 3 humanitarian crisis, its most severe category.
Nationwide fuel shortages have spread disease and suffering in Yemen, where access to water usually depends on fuel-powered pumps and more than 20 million people, 80 percent of the population, needs some form of aid, according to the United Nations.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] According to reports, at least 45 forces of Evil of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group were killed after breaking their Ramadan fast with a poisoned meal.
The incident took place in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... Iraq where around 145 forces of Evil had gathered for the Iftar meal.
A front man for the Kurdish Democratic Party said only 100 ISIS forces of Evil walked away alive and it is yet not clear whether the forces of Evil were deliberately poisoned or they suffered from food poisoning.
Mosul is the largest city in the group's self-declared caliphate and was captured by ISIS forces of Evil in June last year.
This comes as several ISIS forces of Evil were killed in a similar incident in Syria last year after Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... forces of Evil infiltrated their base and poisoned their lunches.
Around 1,200 ISIS forces of Evil were reportedly stationed in the camp when Free Syrian Army poisoned their food while posing as chefs.
In the meantime, images have emerged throughout Ramadan showing ISIS Lions of Islam sitting down to lavish meals while those living under its brutal regime starve, according to the MailOnline.
Undercover footage from the terror group's adopted capital of Raqqa in Syria showed hundreds of young boys and burqa-clad women queuing for food and water in the blistering heat.
It was shared by anti-ISIS activists Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently alongside the caption, 'the second day of Ramadan' -- the holy month when Moslems do not eat or drink from dawn until the sun has set.
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#11
Wasn't Muhammad poisoned by his wife? IIRC they're supposed to regard the norms of that era as third in authority after the Koran and the hadith...
Posted by: James ||
07/09/2015 19:10
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There's a very good reason not to have your slaves fix your meals. Particulary after you rape them or their's.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's army said on Tuesday it had detained almost 800 people trying to cross illegally from Syria, including three suspected Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... Lion of Islams, after bolstering security in border areas near where the radical Islamists hold ground.
The military said 768 people were tossed into the calaboose on Monday alone while trying to cross the border. The three suspected Islamic State members were sent to jail in the southern city of Sanliurfa after being detained separately on July 2, it said.
Wary of advances by both Syrian Kurdish forces and Islamic State in northern Syria, Turkey has sent extra troops and equipment to strengthen parts of its 900 km (560-mile) border as the risk of spillover rises.
Turkey has maintained an open border policy throughout Syria's conflict, absorbing close to two million refugees, but requires legitimate refugees to pass through checkpoints and be documented. The military did not say why the 768 people were tossed into the calaboose.
Turkey has faced criticism from some Western nations for failing to do more to stop imported muscle crossing and joining Islamic State. It argues that domestic intelligence agencies in the West need to stop their nationals being radicalized and traveling to Turkey in the first place.
Ankara has mooted the creation of a 'secure zone' on Syrian soil to prevent a new wave of refugees crossing the border, a strategy which would be likely to require a military incursion, but has made clear it will not act alone and has been lobbying for support from the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State.
Retired General John Allen, appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama If you have a small business, you didn't build that... to build that coalition, held talks on Tuesday in Ankara with Turkish officials.
While concerned about the threat from Islamic State, Turkey also fears the creation of an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria which could further embolden its own 14 million ethnic Kurds.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday there were no immediate plans for any incursion into Syria, but said Turkey would respond if its security were threatened.
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[Inquirer] Two Philippine soldiers and nine Maoist militants were injured during an hour-long encounter in Compostela Valley on Tuesday afternoon. The troops were on patrol when they encountered about 20 New People's Army militants in New Bataan.
Eyewitnesses said nine militants were seriously injured but they were taken by their comrades who fled.
Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Aurelio Baladad ordered the search for the wounded militants. He said, "We are also concerned about the wounded NPA members. We have a brand-new ambulance here at Eastmincom that can help them reach the hospital for their immediate treatment."
[Bangkok Post] Two bombs exploded in Pattani province on Wednesday morning, wounding six soldiers and defense volunteers. The first bombing occurred in Khok Pho district when troops were on patrol near Cheda village. The other bomb went off at Moo 2 village of Mayo district as a team of defense volunteers was on patrol there.
[ALMANAR.LB] Army operations, involving air strikes, continued on Wednesday, targeting terrorists' positions across the country and inflicting heavy casualties upon them, state-run SANA news agency reported.
In Hasaka, SANA news hound in Hasaka said Wednesday the army units, in cooperation with the Internal Security forces and the national backup forces, established full control over al-Lailiyeh neighborhood in Hasaka city after destroying the last hideouts of so-called 'Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... group in the area.
The army air force killed a number of murderous Moslems and destroyed vehicles equipped with machine guns in air strikes against their movements in al-Arisheh town and al-Shaddadi city in the southern countryside of the northeastern province of Hasaka.
The army units destroyed ISIL positions in the surroundings of Ghweiran neighborhood and al-Villat on the southern outskirts of Hasaka city.
In Homs, the Syrian Arab Army on Wednesday eliminated the last remaining gatherings of ISIL murderous Moslems in areas and positions in the surroundings of Palmyra city in the eastern countryside of Homs province.
Army units established full control over Nazl Hayyal, al-Qadiri farm, and Thaniet al-Rajma to the west of Palmyra city after intensive precise operations against ISIL concentrations which resulted in the death of scores of terrorists.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, Bart was wondering if fisticuffs would be appropriate at this point... local sources told SANA news hound that operations resulted in killing 35 murderous Moslems from ISIL, in addition to injuring at least 90 murderous Moslems and destroying dens used by the organization's leaders, along with dozens of vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns that were trying to reach combat zones to evacuate injured terrorists.
The Army Air force also carried out intensive Arclight airstrikes on dens and movements of ISIL murderous Moslems in the surroundings of al-Heer Palace, Palmyra city, and its surroundings, killing a number of murderous Moslems and destroying their arms and ammunition.
Army units launched strikes against terrorists' dens in al-Habra al-Gharbieh village in Homs eastern countryside, destroying armored vehicles and machinegun-equipped cars and killing a number of terrorists.
In Homs northwestern countryside, an army unit killed al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front murderous Moslems and destroyed their weapons in Kafr Laha in al-Houla area.
In the neighboring Hama province, dozens of bad boyz were potted and their vehicles were destroyed in army air strikes on their gatherings in al-Latamneh, Atshan and al-Hweijeh in the countryside of the province.
In Daraa, army units carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday morning intensive operations against dens of murderous Moslems in al-Mukhiyam park and on al-Sad road in Daraa al-Balad neighborhood in the city, according to the military source.
The operations left many murderous Moslems killed and their arms and ammunition destroyed.
Another army unit repelled an attack by terrorist groups on military posts in separate areas in Daraa city, killing a number of them and injuring others.
In Idleb in northern Syria, the army air force carried out a number of air strikes against positions of the terrorist organizations and their movements in the villages of Bishlamoun, al-Bsheiriyeh and in Jisr al-Shughour city in the countryside of the province.
A number of bad boyz were potted in air strikes and several their machinegun-equipped vehicles were destroyed.
A large number of murderous Moslems were also killed, most of them from al-Nusra Front, and their vehicles were destroyed in air strikes against their positions to the north and south of Abu al-Duhour airport and to the north of Khsheir village and Abu al-Duhour town.
A series of army air strikes left many murderous Moslems killed in the town of al-Tamani'eh and in the villages of Madaya, Kinsafra and Shnan in the southern countryside of the province.
In Aleppo, army units killed several murderous Moslems near the Air Force Academy, al-Laiyramoun, Khan al-Assal, Kafr Hamra, Karm Mayser, al-Shiekh Lutfi, al-Maadi, al-Marjeh, Bustan al-Basha, al-Sakhour, Hreitan and Salaheddin areas in Aleppo and its countryside.
Earlier, units of the army killed scores of terrorists, most of them from al-Nusra Front, and destroyed a number of their machinegun-equipped vehicles in the surroundings of the Scientific Research Center and al-Mansoura village, 10 km to the west of Aleppo City in the northern Aleppo Province.
An army unit carried out precise operations against dens and positions of the Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... organizations in Kwaires town and its surroundings in the eastern countryside of the province.
A number of bad boyz were potted in the operations and their arms, ammunition, equipment and vehicles were destroyed.
Units of the armed forces also destroyed positions of the ISIL murderous Moslems on the International Road leading to Raqqa.
Another army unit killed all members of a terrorist group who were trying to infiltrate towards al-Zahra'a in the western outskirts of Aleppo and destroyed their arms and ammunition.
Another army unit launched strikes against dens and intercepted the movements of terrorist organizations in Maaret al-Artiq in Jabal Samaan area, Hraitan and Kafar Hamra to the north and northwest of Aleppo, killing a number of terrorists, injuring others and destroying vehicles, some of which equipped with machine guns.
Army units destroyed ISIL gatherings in al-Twaihna village southeast of Khanaser town.
A number of al-Nusra bad boyz were potted and others were maimed in Karam al-Jazmati, Bani Zaid, al-Saliheen, al-Kallasa, al-Laiyramoun, al-Na'anae, al-Zahra'a neighborhoods and Karam al-Tarrab area between al-Miyasar and al-Jazmati neighborhoods.
A number of al-Nusra terrorist operatives were also killed and others injured in the neighborhoods of al-Jazmati, Bab al-Nairab and al-Rashidin in Aleppo city.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, Bart was wondering if fisticuffs would be appropriate at this point... Takfiri terrorist organizations admitted on their social networking websites that they suffered heavy losses and scores of their members were killed, including one of the field leaders of the so-called "Jund al-Islam" (army of Islam).
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] A new Saudi diplomatic document was published among thousands in WikiLeaks, showed minutes of the meeting between basher al-Assad and Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... , the First United Nation's Envoy to Syria to resolve the Syrian crisis.
The letter was coded and showed that Basher al-Assad insisted on calling the rebels as "terrorist" and his war was against terrorism on behalf of the whole world, not against the opposition.
The letter explained that al-Assad used hidden threats and warning in his talk with Annan, like threatening of possible "huge bloodshed" if the regime withdrew its forces from the Syrian cities, although the meeting took place at time when the revolution was in its peaceful stage.
Despite the good and personal relationship between al-Assad and Annan, as the Saudi diplomatic letter mentioned, al-Assad used rebuking and blaming tone in his talk to Annan when he said "you have not done anything , you have not pressurised countries or other sides supporting the terrorist action in Syria" and a stronger language when he said: "before asking us to take any step forward, demand others to do so". Moreover, al-Assad Blamed Annan for being unfair in his reports to the United nation in regard to the Syrian crisis."
From his side, according to the coded Saudi diplomatic letter, Annan tried to reduce the tension and superiority in al-Assad's language, and put his solution in soft language, like requesting releasing detainees and handing them to the International observers, when al-Assad replied that prisoners' case would be dealt with according the Syrian way, and tribal prominent figures were looking after the matter.
In the same meeting, Bashar claimed that they had released many prisoners by amnesty decrees and demonstrating in Syria had become allowed like other countries.
Annan was he first Envoy to Syria to resolve the Syrian crisis, he started his mission in 23 February 2012, but he was not able to carry on for more than six months and resigned in 30-August in the same year and Lakhdar Brahimi followed him, who resigned later and followed by Staffan de Mistura.
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[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has informed the Supreme Court that it is pursuing 150 mega scams involving approximately Rs428.3 billion in financial and land irregularities and abuse of power. The list implicates big guns like Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... and two former premiers, Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's former prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics could be awe-inspiring ... and Raja Pervez Asharaf, a caretaker prime minister, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, and former president Asif Ali Zardari.
The information was submitted before a three-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja. The bench had asked for a comprehensive report while deploring that the bureau was not investigating mega scandals and instead wasting its resources and energy on petty matters.
On Tuesday the court had taken up a case relating to maladministration and poor performance of the bureau.
The list not only contains names of politicians, former federal and provincial ministers, but also senior babus bureaucrats and individuals from the banking or financial sector.
Expressing shock over the NAB report, Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) was quick to react against the allegations and its big shot Ishaq Khakwani said his party had been arguing that both the ruling PML-N and the PPP were in cahoots with each other.
"So many references against many politicians of the two parties are lying in the cold storage," lamented Mr Khakwani while talking to Dawn, adding that many cases went to courts, but yielded no results due to weak prosecution.
Now with the intervention of the Supreme Court, at least people would learn about big names in corruption and mega scams, he said.
PTI's central information secretary Naeemul Haq said that the PTI had been saying that NAB had no capacity to go after big fishes under the existing set-up.
Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid said that the cases the PML-N leadership was facing were instituted during the days of retired Gen Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... to victimise the Sharifs. But despite pursuing the cases for eight years, the government was unable to prove anything in courts, the minister added.
The road being referred to in the NAB report, he said, has a university and hospitals across it. Building roads were one of the important aspects of the development to provide ease of movement to the citizens, he added.
Mr Zardari's front man Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the former president was facing politically motivated cases and that he had been acquitted in two corruption cases.
The 34-page summary highlighted 150 cases each of financial scam, land scam and abuse of power. Of these,71 cases in the three categories are still in the inquiry stage by NAB, 41 are under investigation and 38 references have already been filed and pending in different accountability courts.
The court, however, was not amused and rejected the report since there was no mention when these cases were initiated and for how long these were still being inquired into or investigated or pending in the accountability courts. The bureau is required to furnish the report afresh with all details.
In the category of abuse of official authority, the NAB report says that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... , are facing investigation for misappropriating Rs126 million by misusing their authority in the construction of a road from Raiwind to the Sharif family house. The case is still at the investigation stage, though it came to the notice of NAB in April 2000.
The prime minister is also facing another charge of illegal appointments in the FIA by misusing authority in 1999.
Similarly, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is facing a probe for amassing assets beyond means. The case is still at the investigation state.
Former president Asif Ali Zardari was facing allegations of amassing wealth beyond means worth Rs22 billion.
Former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, former finance minister Shaukat Tareen, former Pepco chief Tahir Basharat Cheema and water and power secretary Shahid Rafi are also facing investigation in the rental power producer contract to different rental companies.
Former caretaker prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and former chief minister of Punjab Chaudhry Pervez Elahi also figure in the list of alleged illegal beneficiaries for misusing their authority to the tune of Rs2.4 billion.
Likewise, former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is being investigated on a charge of misuse of authority in the illegal appointment of Tauqir Sadiq as chairman of Ogra. Tauqir Sadiq is also facing corruption cases worth Rs80 billion.
A former chief minister of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , Nawab Aslam Raisani, is facing investigations for misusing authority in recruitments but the size of the corruption has not yet been determined by NAB.
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[DAWN] THE literacy rate declined by 2pc, reported the print media in mid-May quoting the Pakistain Standard of Living Measurement Survey. One would have expected the media and society to talk themselves hoarse and the political opposition to take advantage of the revelation. Nothing of the sort happened. Feeble mentions here and there were lost in the drumbeat of the metro's inaugural and the annual budget. No one thought of doing a talk show on why literacy declined.
While celebrating the uninterrupted growth in foreign remittances for over 15 years, we turn a blind eye to the fact that children of overseas labourers are raised in the absence of fathers, young wives live without husbands and elderly parents have to do without children. The social consequences of remittances do not merit a talk show.
While celebrating every year the increment in allocation for the Benazir Income Support Programme, the latter's impact on poverty alleviation is rarely debated. How about linking the programme to sending children to school? No talk show again. The katchi abadis and the homeless day labourers living on green belts and verandahs of shopping centres are also not worth a talk show.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[JPost] During a talk he gave in Santiago this May, PLO Ambassador to Chile Imad Nabil Jada’a, told an audience the Jewish people do not exist. Addressing members of the Gran Logia Masonic Lodge, Jada’a said that Palestinians "don’t recognize the existence of the Jewish people" as there is not any such people in fact.
Jada'a said, "This is not my personal analysis. Here we can refer to the Jewish Israeli professor from the University of Tel Aviv, Dr. Shlomo Sand, in his book 'The Invention of the Jewish People.' A Jew with Israeli passport announces that, the so-called Jewish nation is a made up invention. Because a religion cannot be a people."
Sand believes that contemporary Jews are descended from the Khazars and are not connected to the Biblical Israelites.
Jada’a also recommended that his listeners read the 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'.
#1
I once wrote a book; it's a beauty --
It won the '08 Prix Aujourd'hui!
Now, for an encore, I
Again take the floor. Why?
To sing my new song, "Who's Yehudi?"
Psst, buddy! You'd best keep an eye on
Those mudderless Elders of Zion!
They're prolly conspiring
To mess with your wiring,
So take this tinfoil hat to try on.
#6
It is refreshing to have an Arab not blame his cultures total failure on the Jews although it makes a few of the Arab Israel wars hard to explain. I mean what, the Arabs failed to conquer empty land?
#8
Ottomans subjects, then colonial subjects of the French and British, then Egyptian and Jordanian subjects. Israel has the longer track record of political and economic independence.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[TELEGRAPH.CO.UK] Internet trolls face up to two years' jail in New Zealand under a controversial new law which bans "harmful digital communications".
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs beheaded three 
[DAWN] The Sindh government on Tuesday imposed a ban on pillion-riding in 
[RFE/RL] Tens of thousands of Afghans have fled their homes in northern Afghanistan in the face of a fierce offensive by the Taliban. Many have sought refuge in Balkh Province, the last oasis of relative peace in the region.
[APNEWS.MYWAY] A law enforcement official says the weapon used in the shooting death of a woman on a 
[ALMANAR.LB] A US aircraft carrier in the Gulf hosted Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, official media said on Wednesday.
[The Hudson Institute] The Central Intelligence Agency is once again mired in crisis. CIA Director John Brennan finds himself "deeply concerned." The spy agency he runs suffers from an affliction that he says has "persisted despite repeated efforts by Agency leaders to address it."
[Inquirer] Two Philippine soldiers and nine Maoist militants were injured during an hour-long encounter in Compostela Valley on Tuesday afternoon. The troops were on patrol when they encountered about 20 New People's Army militants in New Bataan.
Some fluff, some moderately interesting info.
[ALMANAR.LB] Army operations, involving air strikes, continued on Wednesday, targeting terrorists' positions across the country and inflicting heavy casualties upon them, state-run SANA news agency reported.
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
Pervez 
[JPost] During a talk he gave in Santiago this May, PLO Ambassador to Chile Imad Nabil Jada’a, told an audience the Jewish people do not exist. Addressing members of the Gran Logia Masonic Lodge, Jada’a said that Palestinians "don’t recognize the existence of the Jewish people" as there is not any such people in fact.
